The Contribution Release New Music Throughout 2017
Singles to be released for seven months, with 100% of proceeds going to nonprofitsRex Foundation, Conscious Alliance, HeadCount, Rock the Earth, The Delaware Riverkeeper Network, BCEF (Breast Cancer Emergency Fund in SF Bay area), and Piedmont Land Conservatory

Since this February, The Contribution has been releasing one single a month, as sort of a mid-month pick-me-up, partnering with a variety of nonprofits to which 100% of the profits from each single (sold as a digital download) go to a charity (hand-picked by members of the band) in perpetuity.

The Contribution is the brainchild of Tim Carbone of Railroad Earth (violin, guitar, vocals) together with Phil Ferlino (keyboards, vocals) and Jeff Miller (guitar, vocals) of New Monsoon. Keith Moseley (String Cheese Incident), has been the bass player from the band’s inception along with vocalist Sheryl Renee (The Black Swan Singers). The drum chair has been occupied by Jason Hann (String Cheese Incident), Matt Butler (Everyone Orchestra), and currently Duane Trucks (Widespread Panic). Both Matt Butler and Duane Trucks appear on the band’s new record, Wilderness And Space. Although the band is comprised of some of the scene’s heavy hitters, the first listen to their music reveals their love of 60s pop and soul coupled with their ability to flat-out shred. The full ten song album will be released on vinyl this Fall on LoHi Records.

Tim Carbone tells Shows I Go To about how the nonprofits were selected, “I put it to the band at large. What do you feel strongly about? Matt Butler said we should go for the Rex Foundation. Keith wanted Conscious Alliance, who I have also worked with before. Phil suggested Rock the Earth. I thought we would go with HeadCount because I am politically motivated. They don’t choose sides, they just encourage people to register to vote. When you don’t vote, bad things happen. I think we found that out.”

Tim says, “I wrote the words to ‘This Too Shall Pass’ for our guitar player Jeff after his mother passed away from breast cancer.” He says they did some searching and found BCEF, a Breast Cancer Emergency Fund in SF Bay area, to pair up with that song. LoHi Records labelmate, Jim Brooks, suggested Piedmont Land Conservatory as he has held events to raise money for them in the past to preserve natural and scenic lands, farms, and open spaces in Piedmont North Carolina. The Delaware Riverkeeper Network is located nearby where Carbone is from and they do wonderful work in protecting the waterways, including the drinking water of nearly 17 Million people, throughout the entire Delaware River Watershed which includes Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, and New York.

The Contribution. Photo by Erin Mills

The newest single release “Passengers of Darkness” explores trauma suffered in a relationship, with two people confronting challenges to their love and trust. Carbone says, “It could also be a metaphor [in retrospect] for the trauma some people are feeling over our recent presidential election. The lack of transparency and trust in an election, as well as a relationship, can be destructive and almost always leads to chaos.”

How fitting to pair the song up with HeadCount, an organization that works with musicians to promote participation in democracy. HeadCount is best known for registering voters at concerts – having signed up 450,000 voters since its launch in 2004 – and for the Participation Row social action villages at concerts and festivals which have raised over $1 million for various nonprofit organizations.

“The Contribution is a brilliant concept and we were honored when Tim asked HeadCount to participate. Seeing Tim and The Contribution elevate and amplify the voices of so many incredible organizations is a real example of how music can change the world,” says Andy Bernstein, HeadCount’s Executive Director.

The first single “Back This Way” came out in February with proceeds going to Rex Foundation. Created in 1983 by the Grateful Dead and Family, Rex Foundation aims to help secure a healthy environment, promote individuality in the arts, provide support to critical and necessary social services, assist others less fortunate than ourselves, protect the rights of indigenous people and ensure their cultural survival, build a stronger community, and educate children and adults everywhere. Rex Foundation has granted $8.9 million to over 1,200 recipients.

“For more than 30 years, the Rex Foundation has funded organizations most people might never have heard of, but all of whom do meaningful work that we find important. I believe that these same groups need all of us now more than ever, and I doubt there could be any better way to celebrate their work than by coming together with songs in the air and spirits held high,” says Rex Foundation Executive DirectorCameron Sears.

March’s release unveiled “The Great Boot” to benefit Conscious Alliance. Live Music News and Review’s Miles Hurley spoke with Conscious Alliance’s Executive Director Justin Levy about their work to help solve the hunger crisis in America since 2002. He writes, “… one of the organization’s really successful efforts in the music world has been Art That Feeds, a project that has touring bands’ artists creating posters and other art that fans can donate food to purchase. As Justin tell us, it’s the fan bases that are a fundamental part of the organization’s mission. “People do want to contribute, people do want to give back locally. It’s about making it easy and accessible, and effective for folks,” he says.

“The idea,” Justin explains, “is to engage people in the middle of their good time, and provide them an outlet to give back locally in each city where the music plays. Tim Carbone has been a huge supporter of Conscious Alliance for many years,” Justin says. “[He] reached out to us as they were getting ready to launch, and said ‘We love Conscious Alliance, and we’d love to continue the support through this program.’”

Hurley says “The Great Boot” is “a doozy of a track, echoing both the epicness of something like ‘Terrapin Station,’ and the folky, rich tones of a Railroad Earth tune. The last few minutes launches the song into a powerful climax, fronted by some inspired fiddle playing from band leader Tim Carbone.”

“It’s a pretty special collaboration and we’re very lucky and honored to be involved,” says Levy.

Hurley writes, “Purchasing a wicked cool new track, and getting to contribute to an amazing cause while doing so? It’s a definite win-win all around.”

All songs written and produced by Tim Carbone, Phil Ferlino, and Jeff Miller. The songs from Wilderness And Space were recorded mainly at Silo Sound Studio in Denver, Colorado and engineered by Todd Dival with additional recordings at TRI Studios in San Rafael, California (engineered by Rick Vargas).

Carbone says, “We feel blessed to be able to make this music and have it help people in need… and we would like to empower those who share our passion and provide a resource for them to take action with us.”

Singles to be released for seven months, with 100% of proceeds going to non-profits and the first single paired with Rex Foundation to come out February 17, 2017

When Relix magazine announced the The Contribution’s debut record, Which Way World [2010], and called them a “jamband supergroup,” they also recognized, “the band serves the songs first and foremost.” Although the band is comprised of some of the scene’s heavy hitters, the first listen to their music reveals their love of 60s pop and soul coupled with their ability to flat-out shred. It’s what makes the band appealing to music lovers from all walks of life and they are pleased to release tracks from their upcoming LoHi Records album, Wilderness And Space, one song at a time over the course of seven months, with full proceeds of each single going to a different non-profit with each track.

The Contribution is the brainchild of Tim Carbone of Railroad Earth (violin, guitar, vocals) together with Phil Ferlino (keyboards, vocals) and Jeff Miller (guitar, vocals) of New Monsoon. Keith Moseley (String Cheese Incident), has been the bass player from the band’s inception along with vocalist Sheryl Renee (The Black Swan Singers). The drum chair has been occupied by Jason Hann (String Cheese Incident), Matt Butler (Everyone Orchestra), and currently Duane Trucks (Widespread Panic). Both Matt Butler and Duane Trucks appear on the band’s new record, Wilderness And Space.

The first song will be released on February 17, 2017 and all proceeds will be donated toRex Foundation. Consecutive songs will come out each month, each paired with it’s own art and a different non-profit partner. Others taking part include Conscious Alliance, HeadCount, and a handful of other organizations that support the arts, environment, and health. The full ten song album will be released on vinyl this Fall.

Releasing records and touring is a cycle that is connected and a part of each member’s individual careers. Initially conceived as a studio project that would play select live shows, the emphasis for The Contribution was always on writing and recording. Rather than releasing a full record with expectations of touring to support it, Carbone wanted to find a way to live up to the band’s name, which in itself provided the clue as to how, and this is what they cooked up as a way to keep it going and give back in the process.

How could the creation of music be leveraged best for the betterment of the world at large? A lofty goal. The band has never been about personal profit and individually the members have been advocates and activists for various environmental and social causes. Now they have thought of a way to meld the two worlds the band holds dear. They are The Contribution, after all.

Carbone says, “We feel blessed to be able to make this music and have it help people in need… and we would like to empower those who share our passion and provide a resource for them to take action with us.”

All songs written and produced by Tim Carbone, Phil Ferlino and Jeff Miller. The songs from Wilderness And Space were recorded mainly at Silo Sound Studio in Denver, Colorado and engineered by Todd Dival with additional recordings at TRI Studios in San Rafael, CA, (engineered by Rick Vargas). The full ten-song album will come out on vinyl in the Fall of 2017.

Wilderness And Space will be released on LoHi Records, of which Carbone is one of the partners along with singer/songwriter and record producer Todd Snider, Hard Working Americans’ Chad Staehly, who is also with Gold Mountain Entertainment in Nashville, and entrepreneur and marketing veteran Jim Brooks.